France
Latest Average Wage
+3.7% · 5 years
$60,483
Country Comparison
France vs Switzerland
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
France
vs
Switzerland
$60,4832025
Latest Average Wage
Switzerland +52.6%
(vs France)
$92,2852025
+3.7%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Switzerland +3.4 pts
(vs France)
+7.1%2025
+1.7%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Switzerland +4.1 pts
(vs France)
+5.8%2025
70.42024
Overall Price Level
Switzerland +48.6 index points
(vs France)
1192024
Wages are PPP-adjusted average annual wages; price levels use the United States reference of 100. Years shown are each country's latest reported observation.
How Wages Have Changed
Follow PPP-adjusted average annual wages in constant prices across both economies.
USD PPP, constant prices · missing years shown as gaps, never interpolated
Switzerland
Latest Average Wage
+7.1% · 5 years
$92,285
Wage Milestones
France
10 Years Ago
$59,485 (2015)
Historical Peak
$61,289 (2019)
Latest Wage
$60,483 (2025)
Switzerland
10 Years Ago
$87,262 (2015)
Historical Peak
$92,285 (2025)
Latest Wage
$92,285 (2025)
Compare Everyday Price Levels
See how eight consumer price categories compare with the United States reference value of 100.
United States = 100 · Differences shown in index points
France (FRA)Switzerland (CHE)
Overall
−48.6 index points
100
70.4vs119
Food
−43.6 index points
100
93.4vs137
Clothing
−36.9 index points
100
86.1vs123
Housing
−50.7 index points
100
68.3vs119
Health
−51.1 index points
100
43.4vs94.5
Transport
−20.0 index points
100
114vs134
Recreation
−53.8 index points
100
82.2vs136
Restaurants & Accommodation
−49.9 index points
100
90.1vs140
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Switzerland's latest average wage is $92,285 for 2025, about 52.6% higher than France's $60,483 for 2025 — a relative difference calculated from the two reported values. In annual terms the gap comes to about $31,802 on the same PPP basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, France shows the stronger movement at +1.0%, against +0.1% for Switzerland. The five-year horizon reverses the ordering — France at +3.7% and Switzerland at +7.1% — so the latest year is not the whole story. Both percentages are real, PPP-adjusted changes from the reported wage series.
03
Largest Price Gap
Recreation shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 82.2 for France against 136 for Switzerland. Measured on the US=100 scale, the two readings for this category are 53.8 index points apart, Switzerland above France. The gap is stated in index points, which are not interchangeable with percentages.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Transport: France reads 114 and Switzerland 134 for 2024, just 20.0 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Clothing at 36.9 index points apart. Two readings this close mean the category sits at nearly the same point of the US=100 scale for both.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
The wage levels in this pairing are far apart: Switzerland reports $92,285 for 2025, while France reports $60,483 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 52.6% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $31,802 a year. Because both values already sit on the same USD PPP, constant-2025-price footing, the comparison adjusts for price-level differences between the two economies. For scale, neither series has moved by that much within any single reported year, so the gap is structural rather than the product of one unusual observation. Over ten years France recorded +1.7% and Switzerland +5.8%, so the two series have been moving in the same long-term direction.
Wage Direction
Both wage series rise over the five-year horizon, though not at the same pace. France stands just below its historical high of $61,289 in 2019, only 1.3% away, with a ten-year change of +1.7%. Switzerland sits at the highest point of its series — $92,285 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +5.8%. Switzerland's five-year change of +7.1% outpaces France's +3.7% in magnitude, so the common direction does not mean the two levels are holding a fixed distance. Each percentage is a real, PPP-adjusted change; nominal pay movements are outside what this dataset reports.
Price Profile
France's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 70.4, and Switzerland's reads 119, each measured against the United States reference of 100. One side of this pairing dominates the price profile: Switzerland sits higher in 8 of the 8 comparable categories. Recreation separates the two most: France reads 82.2 and Switzerland 136, 53.8 index points apart. The two sit closest in Transport (114 versus 134), only 20.0 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 1 of France's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 7 of Switzerland's 8. These are index values for 2024, not currency amounts; categories without a reported value on either side are left out of the comparison.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
